I came to South East Alaska (Ketchikan) last summer after two years teaching in Tuntutuliak, a native village in S.W. Alaska. I first moved to Alaska in 2004 after four years of teaching in Philadelphia.

August 30, 2004

~~Got to Tuntutuliak yesterday around 2:00pm. Frank, the principal, picked me up in a four wheeler at the airport. Night before that, I met new people: Daryl, Crystal and Addy at the Anchorage Airport. They live in Bethel, the place I had to go in order to get to Tuntutuliak (Tunt). The flight from Anchorage to Bethel was delayed, so I missed the last connection to Tunt. I would have been stuck paying a lot for a motel in Bethel, but these guys came to the rescue and gave me a place to stay. Since it was Saturday night, they also took me out to a few get togethers in town (no bars, Bethel is "damp"). It happened that the guy who interviewed and hired me was at one of the get togethers. I thanked him.
~~Today I taught in Tunt for the first time. It was surreal- they are so nice to each other. The paperwork is heavy. Every thing we do is scripted out. Each kid is required to pass state assessments weekly; if they don't pass, we are expected to work with them until they do. None of the students are transient, and class size averages around 10, so that can actually happen. It's near midnight now and the sky is almost completely dark. It's been a long day.

Welcome to my blog.

I'm working in DC now, but I've been in Alaska for the last 4 years. Originally, I'm a public middle school teacher from Philadelphia. I moved Tuntutuliak AK (a tiny eskimo village) after four years teaching in West Philly, then moved to Ketchikan AK where I became the HS Librarian. I'll return to Ketchikan next year.